Taking a lost bull by the horns

Male moose on the loose is tranquilized and sent safely back to the bush

By Matt Hamilton

Updated 6:53 am, Wednesday, September 25, 2013

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The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

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The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

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The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

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The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

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The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

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The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

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The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

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The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

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The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

The Department of Environmental Conservation tranquilized a moose Tuesday morning after it was found in a yard in Halfmoon. (Matt Hamilton / Times Union)

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A young bull moose is sedated under the care of a state biologist after being captured Tuesday morning, Sept. 24, 2013, in the rear of a Dunsbach Road home in Clifton Park, N.Y. The moose was tagged and had its antlers shorn for safety. It was later transported to a spot in the southern Adirondacks. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union) less

A young bull moose is sedated under the care of a state biologist after being captured Tuesday morning, Sept. 24, 2013, in the rear of a Dunsbach Road home in Clifton Park, N.Y. The moose was tagged and had its ... more

Photo: Skip Dickstein

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An ENCON worker makes a photo of the horns of a young moose after being captured Tuesday morning, Sept 24, 2013, in the rear of a Dunsback Road home in Clifton Park, N.Y. The horns were removed make sure that the moose did not injure himself after being awakened from the sedation that was used to capture him. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union) less

An ENCON worker makes a photo of the horns of a young moose after being captured Tuesday morning, Sept 24, 2013, in the rear of a Dunsback Road home in Clifton Park, N.Y. The horns were removed make sure that ... more

Photo: Skip Dickstein

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A young bull moose is sedated under the care of a state biologist after being captured Tuesday morning, Sept. 24, 2013, in the rear of a Dunsbach Road home in Clifton Park, N.Y. The moose was tagged and had its antlers shorn for safety. It was later transported to a spot in the southern Adirondacks. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union) less

A young bull moose is sedated under the care of a state biologist after being captured Tuesday morning, Sept. 24, 2013, in the rear of a Dunsbach Road home in Clifton Park, N.Y. The moose was tagged and had its ... more

Photo: Skip Dickstein

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A young bull moose is sedated under the care of a state biologist after being captured Tuesday morning, Sept. 24, 2013, in the rear of a Dunsbach Road home in Clifton Park, N.Y. The moose was tagged and had its antlers shorn for safety. It was later transported to a spot in the southern Adirondacks. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union) less

A young bull moose is sedated under the care of a state biologist after being captured Tuesday morning, Sept. 24, 2013, in the rear of a Dunsbach Road home in Clifton Park, N.Y. The moose was tagged and had its ... more

Photo: Skip Dickstein

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A young bull moose is sedated under the care of a state biologist after being captured Tuesday morning, Sept. 24, 2013, in the rear of a Dunsbach Road home in Clifton Park, N.Y. The moose was tagged and had its antlers shorn for safety. It was later transported to a spot in the southern Adirondacks. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union) less

A young bull moose is sedated under the care of a state biologist after being captured Tuesday morning, Sept. 24, 2013, in the rear of a Dunsbach Road home in Clifton Park, N.Y. The moose was tagged and had ... more

Photo: Skip Dickstein

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Taking a lost bull by the horns

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Halfmoon

The large, furry brown beast sighted in southern Saratoga County over the past week was captured on Tuesday morning.

Bigfoot? No, big all over — with antlers.

The 600-pound bull moose was tranquilized in the backyard of a Dunsbach Road home just before noon by Department of Environmental Conservation officials after a week of sightings in the Clifton Park-Halfmoon area.

The moose first appeared in the yard at sunrise and lumbered around aimlessly until it was shot with a dart. Just after noon, a 10-person team loaded the sedated creature into a trailer for a ride to the Adirondack Mountains.

"The reason we did this is for the safety of the moose and of the public," DEC wildlife biologist Ed Reed said. "Moose-vehicle accidents can be nasty."

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The animal had been glimpsed in various spots, but on Tuesday it was roughly a mile from the Exit 8 area of the Northway. Besides being a driving hazard, Reed said this is moose mating season and the youngster could have been more aggressive than usual, as is often the case with males of any species that are competing for females.

On Tuesday morning, it lay calmly under a large tree as DEC team members inched toward it. When they closed in, the moose stood up and it was shot in the neck with a bright orange dart. About two minutes later it began to stumble and then stagger before lying down again.

The animal was hooked up to an oxygen tank and its eyes were covered as it slowly drifted into unconsciousness. The team then used a tarp-like carrier to lift the moose into a waiting trailer. It was tagged, its antlers shorn for safety — DEC Police Lt. Chris Ruckert said they would have been shed anyway — and the wait began for the sedation to wear off.

Reed said that would take 80 to 90 minutes. Then another drug would be injected by Ruckert (who used a shaking hand to show his nerves during another time he had injected a moose) to counteract the drug in the cocktail used to knock the moose out.

Once it was able to stand, the moose was to be transported to the southern Adirondacks. Reed said it may have come from that area, where 90 percent of the state's 800 to 1,000 moose live. Most of them grow to between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds, he said.

Reed estimated the animal's age at 2 1/2 years. He said that because the bull is young, it may have wandered off on its own — as young bull moose tend to do — or it may have been driven away from its home by a mature bull moose that was competing with it for a mate.